No mention has hitherto been made of the Jews dwelling in Portugal. Little is said respecting them by historians; and the idea has in consequence been entertained that they were few in number, and had little influence in the affairs of the country. But that is a mistake. They settled early in various parts of Portugal, and under the rule of the first Portuguese kings bore an important part in its concerns. In the reign of Sancho I., in 1190, a Jew, Don Solomon Jachia, was made a field-marshal, and commanded the Portuguese army. In 1248, Sancho II. appointed so many Jews to public offices that the Pope of the day, Gregory IX., remonstrated with him on the subject, and requested that Christians might be chosen for the various posts of receivers and farmers of the revenue, which then were generally occupied by Jews, to the oppression and injury of Christian men. We are told that, in requital of the royal protection granted them, the Jews furnished an anchor and a cable of sixty fathoms’ length to every king’s vessel which left port. The same favour was continued by subsequent monarchs. In 1289, the clergy laid a complaint before Pope Nicolas IV. against King Dennis, that he appointed Jews to the highest offices in the State; the Chief Rabbi Judah being his High Treasurer and Minister of Finance. The consequence was they stated, that he permitted his countrymen to dispense with the payment of tithe due from them, and also to lay aside their distinguishing badge. But the complaint seems to have been without foundation. When, at Evora, in 1325 sumptuary laws were enacted respecting dress, no exceptions were made in favour of the Jews; and, unless a composition entered into with the Jews of Braganza, accepting a fixed sum in lieu of the annual taxes, can be regarded as such, no special favour was shown them. Alphonso IV., in 1340, remitted the extraordinary impositions which, from time to time, had been exacted of them, commuting them for a sum which, though _per se_ large, was a great relief to them. His successor, Ferdinand, in 1371 ordered that all the privileges which had been granted by his predecessors to the Jews should be confirmed. He had a Jew, Don Judah, for his treasurer. In 1389, John I., at the suit of Moses, his physician, gave his sanction to the bull of Clement VI., which had been confirmed by the newly elected Pope, Boniface IX., granting the Jews licence to celebrate their feasts, and practise the rites of their religion without interruption from any. In short, up to the date of the accession of John II., in 1481, though laws were passed from time to time, imposing penalties and restrictions on the Jews, which we in the present day should consider harsh and unfair, there was nothing which amounted to persecution.[160]